i ' m    a t    h o m e   f o r    h i r e   t o d a y

I am sharing a new desk redo over at Home For Hire today, go here {or find her on my daily reads sidebar} and check out the before and afters and how I painted this fantastic desk. And yes, this will be for sale in the new studio...once I get all of my permits figured out!

I am also linking this up.
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/2011/08/open-house-party_17.html
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
http://justagirlblog.com/
http://www.lovelycraftyhome.com/

n o t   m y   u s u a l   r e d o

I bought this victorian dresser before I left for vacation. It is not the silhouette I normally go for but I knew it had potential to be fun and different.

The finish was bad, a ton of water spots, I did not want to tackle refinishing it. I sanded the piece, sprayed on Kilz clean start. For the body and drawers of the dresser I painted three coats of Benjamin Moores Simply White in Aura {primer added in, lots of primer going on this piece!}.  I distressed the edges and added two coats of wax to finish. I sprayed the original knobs a glossy black, their shape was cute but I wanted a high contrast. I have been doing this a lot lately. I am going through a high contrast phase.

For the top I added three coats of a black enamel paint in satin. I wanted the top to be very durable, so I went with the enamel paint. On it's own I think the enamel paint will hold up very well but I am going to add a wipe on poly {I haven't done this yet, before someone purchases it I will}.

Very fancy schmancy, not my usual. I was thinking it would make a great media center or buffet for someone. If you like it, this will be in the shop soon. 

Speaking of the new shop/studio. It is coming along, I am not only working on painting it and getting the space worked out, but the appropriate permits are taking longer than I thought so I will get items in there for sale as soon as I can!

linked up to these friends.
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/2011/08/open-house-party_17.html
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
http://justagirlblog.com/
http://www.lovelycraftyhome.com/

t h e   s t u d i o 

{and my time}

I am been working on sprucing up my new garage studio. Tonight I had some helpers. They thought it was more fun than the sandbox right outside the door of the studio, and they didn't drip paint!

{the white dresser in the middle hasn't been started on, it has been claimed by my client Devon before I have even touched it with a paint brush}

The floors and walls still need to be painted but it is coming along, and even more quickly with a little help. My daughter says she is going to paint furniture when she grows up, so this may count as  is her internship.

Slowly finished items are coming in for the mid-September opening of the Shop Modern Cottage studio. I have to confess that I am starting to get stressed out, I really don't want to, but I have put a pile of stuff on me that I need to get done, my husband is in China for work and my kids are getting the end of the summer frenzies. 

I love my family and my job more than anything, but right now my kitchen is a disaster from dinner and smells like tacos {really 50% of the house is a mess right now-maybe more}, I have paint all over my hands, my kids are melting down from the long day, and I don't even want to think about the laundry I need to do. 

I hope to have weekly updates of the progress of the new studio, but at the rate I am going don't count on it, joke... sort of?! Oh, I will get it done, I always do, and I really do enjoy it.

****update-I did this post late last night when I was so tired, now reading it this morning I hope I didn't come across whiny! Well, maybe I was having a whiny moment yesterday, but I am over it today. I have  decided not sneak in work at all today. I am going to fill up the pool and hang out with my sweet kids.

f a v o r i t e   h o u s e   f r i d a y

I am changing things up fhf for the next few weeks. I get up almost around six every morning and go on an hour walk with my good friend Molly, who also lives exactly two blocks away from me. Thank goodness, I am so glad to have such a dear friend nearby that loves old homes and decorating as much as I do. We both feel so lucky to live in such a walkable neighborhood. We switch it up and don't do the same loop everyday. Molly had this great idea yesterday for me to do a fhf on some of homes we love, I think this is a super idea! I did feel like a big dork taking pictures of peoples homes early in the morning.

You will notice from the pics that it is a foggy morning.

{Molly's House!}

We ended the morning walk with a deer right in front of my house!

This is only a few of the homes that we love. Is this fun to see? I might do a couple more morning walk fhf's before it starts getting dark again at six in the morning.

s w e e t    l i t t l e   b l a c k   d r e s s e r 

Keeping with my black and white theme of the week, I finished a petite dresser.

I bought this dresser for $5 at a yard sale before I went on vacation. I took off the outdated pulls, filled the holes and then sanded the whole piece. I primed with a black spray primer, then added two coats of black enamel paint in satin. I then distressed the edges and finished with a wipe on poly.

The new knobs came from Hobby Lobby in Kansas City, I took them home with me on the plane.

I wish we had a Hobby Lobby nearby, I could have spent 5 hours in the knob section of this store.

But you can order knobs online at hobbylobby.com, which is going to be my source for knobs from now on.

I also sewed a quick new cover for my dining bench. It matches my sink skirt.

I just finished priming another large victorian dresser, that I will paint...black and white....it is the theme of the week! This dresser will go in the shop,  you are going to love it!

linked up with these fab gals!
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
perfectlyimperfectblog.com/
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/
http://justagirlblog.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

a    w e e k    o f    b l a c k   a n d   w h i t e

I am going through a black and white phase. Everything I am painting is black and white, no color, so not like me!  I  have even more projects I am working on that are only black and white, so maybe I should just say that is my theme of the week and next week I will get back to using color.

I FINALLY painted my brass fireplace surround. I have had this on my "to do" list for years, got it done! I really hated the brass and it always bugged me. I bought high heat enamel paint and just brushed it on, took me 10 minutes tops. I should have done it years ago, much better.

{before}

{after}

Also, I have to confess I distressed my black and white dresser. 

I like it better. Really I liked it both ways both ways but the distressing picks up on the pretty lines of the dresser. I can't leave anything alone that stays in my house, I have to mess with it somehow. 

I am also working on sewing a slipcover for  a bench and painting a dresser for my kitchen. Both will be black and white. It is my theme of the week!

i ' m   b a c k !

I am back from vacation, it is so good to be home. I am also partaking in a entryway linky party over at Cottage and Vine.

I am not sure if I have ever done a post specifically about my entry. My entry is open to my living room and it might be my favorite part of my home.

I changed a few things about the entryway in the last month. I bought new pillows for the bench and moved two matching lamps on top of the dresser, two is better than one, right?

The big bookcase is built in and original to the house. Thank goodness for it, it holds a lot of my junk! 

I thought since I am doing and entryway post I would show you a before and after of my stacked dresser.



{before}

{after}

I decided on painting it black and white to match my stairs. I wanted it to almost look built in, as if it might have always been part of the home.  For this same reason I decided not to distress it. I primed, and painted it the same color as all of my trim. I think it turned out lovely.

It is so good to be back!

linked up to:
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
perfectlyimperfectblog.com/
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/
http://justagirlblog.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/